The Governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed
an agreement on the 4th of this month to lift the ban on imports of goat
and sheep meat, and bi-products, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The
agreement signed between Pakistani Ambassador Lt-Gen (Retd.) Assad
Durrani and Saudi Commerce Minister Osamah bin Jaffer Faqeeh in Riyadh
is a significant development indeed for the nascent meat export industry
of Pakistan.

Pakistan started exporting fresh meat for the first
ever in 1998. The product was able to find a receptive market in such
brother Muslim countries as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This is obvious
from the fact that overall meat and meat products exports — including
beef, mutton and poultry — increased from $ 1.8 million in 1998-99 to
$ 7 million in 1999-2000 depicting a four-fold increase. However, the
overall fresh meat exports declined to $ 5.2 million in 2000-01 and
dropped further to $ 3.59 million in 2001-02 as the Saudi Arabia and UAE
slapped a ban on meat imports from all sources amidst reports of Mad Cow
and Foot and Mouth diseases.

Umar Dad Afridi, the deputy director of the Export
Promotion Bureau Karachi, looks after the meat exports. Hailing the
agreement, which has yet to become a law waiting issuance of a royal
decree, Umar attributed the lifting of the ban on efficient use of
diplomatic channels by the Pakistani embassy in Saudi Arabia and its
commercial councilor to successfully convince the Saudi authorities that
not only the two livestock diseases do not exist in Pakistan but also
the local meat exporters meet the international standards. "A
technical delegation from Saudi Arabia visited Pakistan and viewed the
slaughter houses and abattoirs and the ban was only lifted after it
submitted a positive report about the working and hygienic conditions at
the slaughter houses and abattoirs.

"Under the agreement Pakistan is allowed to
export only the goat and sheep meat to Saudi Arabia and every single
shipment will be subjected to a Quarantine Certificate from the Animal
Quarantine Department of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and
Livestock. Live goat and sheep can also be exported to Saudi
Arabia."

While the lifting of the ban has yet to become a law
awaiting issuance of the royal decree in Saudi Arabia and while UAE has
already lifted a similar ban, the performance of meat exports during the
first month of the current fiscal, July, depicts a strong performance.
During July this year overall meat exports, including red and poultry
meat, almost doubled over the same month last year. According to figures
provided to PAGE, the total value of meat exported during July
was $ 424,000 compared to $ 220,000 in July last year. It is expected
that the lifting of the ban and the resumption of goat and sheep meat
into Saudi Arabia will help boost overall meat exports this year.

NEW MARKETS

Umar said that the EPB also eyeing other markets in
the Middle East and Far East. "We have plans to make a penetration
into Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait in the Middle East and Malaysia in the
Far East to help boost our meat exports. In May this year the EPB
organized a delegation of meat exporters to visit Malaysia, a market
which offers great potential for Pakistani meat exports. Malaysia
imports $ 220 million worth of meat every year. Since it is a brother
Muslim country and follow the same halal and zabeeha laws governed by
the religion it will be easy for us to find a receptive meat market in
Malaysia. Though Pakistan is already exporting both the red and white
cattle meat to Malaysia the positive response that the delegation
received hints that we will be able to capture a significant part of the
market."

PAGE was informed that the target for meat export
this fiscal is set at $ 10 million and the proposed establishment of the
National Dairy Development and Livestock Board by the government will
not also help increase production for the local consumption but also
play a vital role in the export of meat outside the country.

ANIMAL CASINGS

The export of animal casings, the intestines used as
the cover in the preparation of hotdogs and sausages in the Western
countries, are also on a rise during the last decade. In 2001-2002
Pakistan exported $ 8.6 million worth of animal casings the primary
markets of which are Romania and Turkey. This particular export also
suffered a setback when these two countries imposed a ban on import of
animal casings from Pakistan on reports on diseases. Here again Pakistan
invited the technical delegations from the two countries and address
their concerns successfully thus making them withdraw the ban.

The re-opening of the Saudi market and the plans to
expand the base of meat exports to other countries can help enhance the
meat exports to a respectable level over the years. This would help
uplift the economic conditions of the poverty-stricken rural population
on the one hand and help earn foreign exchange for the country on the
other to have implications the importance of which can hardly be over-emphasised.